This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2001-39946 filed on Jul. 5, 2001, in the Korean Industrial Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge device for a storage container, and, more particularly, to a hinge device for a storage container having a container body with a receptacle chamber and a top opening, and a cover closing the top opening of the receptacle chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, as a top opening-type storage container, a typical Kimchi storage container has a container body and a top cover attached to the container body to swingably open and close the container body. As shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned Kimchi storage container includes a container body 1, a receptacle chamber 2 formed therein, a top opening, a cover 3 closing the top opening of the receptacle chamber 2, and a hinge device 4 swingably coupling the cover 3 to the container body 1 and mounted on a rear upper portion of a side wall of the container body 1.
In the above top opening-type storage container, the hinge device 4 has a hinge case 4a attached to the rear upper portion of the side wall of the container body 1, and a hinge shaft 4b disposed in the hinge case 4a to swingably couple the cover 3 to the container body 1. Furthermore, the hinge case 4a is provided therein with an extendable rod 4c causing the cover 3 to be swung to an opened position or a closed position when the cover 3 is opened and closed, a coil spring 4d biasing the extendable rod 4c, and a guide groove 4e guiding the extending and swing motion of the extendable rod 4c. With the hinge device 4, the cover 3 is easily opened and closed because the cover 3 is biased to the opened position when being opened while the cover is also biased to the closed position when being closed.
However, the conventional hinge device for a storage container is complicated in configuration and somewhat bulky and is difficult to be mounted on the storage container during a production process thereof. In addition, the conventional hinge device has disadvantages in that the appearance is not neat and in that it is cumbersome in handling the storage container because the hinge device 4 is outwardly projected from the container body 1 to allow the extending and swing motion of the extendable rod 4c. 
Accordingly, the present invention has been made to overcome the above and other problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a hinge device for a storage container which is not projected from a container body due to size minimization, thereby providing a neat appearance to the container and also comfort of use to a user due to a reduction of a space occupied by the container.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hinge device for a storage container, which is minimized in size and simplified to facilitate a production and attachment process of the hinge device and the storage container.
Additional objects and advantageous of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learded by practice of the invention.
In order to achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a hinge device rotatably coupling a cover to a container body in a storage container. The hinge device includes a housing having a cavity and attached to one of the cover and the container body, a hinge shaft having a cam part and an insert part extended from the cam part, the cam part rotatably disposed within the cavity of the housing and having a major axis and a minor axis in a cross-section, the insert part projected from the housing and connected to the other one of the cover and the container body, and a pair of leaf springs disposed in the housing to press corresponding opposite outer surfaces of the cam part.
The cam part may be provided with a pair of rounded corners and a pair of angular corners such that the pair of rounded corners are disposed at diagonally opposite corners and that the pair of angular corners are disposed at diagonally opposite the other corners. Each of the rounded corners is disposed between the angular corners, each of the angular corners is disposed between the rounded corners. Flat surfaces are provided between an adjacent rounded corner and angular corner.
The pair of leaf springs may be in contact with the corresponding opposite outer surfaces of the cam part while being maintained to be parallel to each other, and supported at opposite ends by support grooves formed at an inner surface of the housing.
Each of the flat surfaces of the cam part may be maintained to be inclined at a certain angle with respect to a tangential line of the leaf spring when the cover is completely opened or closed such that the leaf springs cause the hinge shaft to further rotate in an opening direction or in a closing direction.
An elastic buffer member may be disposed between the pair of leaf springs to absorb shock generated when the cover is opened and closed.
The cam part of the hinge shaft may be provided with a limit protrusion, and the housing may be provided at an inner surface with a limit step so that an opening motion of the cover is limited by engagement of the limit protrusion with the limit step.
The housing includes a housing body, a side wall formed at one side of the housing body and having a first hole through which the insert part of the hinge shaft passes, an open side formed at another side of the housing body opposite to the side wall and having an opening, and a housing cover adapted to close the opening of the open side of the housing body and having a second hole in which an end of the cam part of the hinge shaft is rotatably inserted, the cam part being supported by the housing cover.
The cam part may be formed with one or more grooves containing lubricant reducing frictional force between the leaf springs and the cam part.